Monash University > News and Events > Monash Memo

Monash in national search for cause of MS

9 September 2009

Professor Claude Bernard

A team of Australian researchers including Monash professors Claude Bernard and Ian Smith are collaborating on a new research project in an effort to discover the proteins that cause multiple sclerosis.

The project – the first of its kind in Australia - was launched recently by Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler.

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease where the body's immune cells attack a person's central nervous system. More than 2.5 million people around the world have MS, including about 20,000 Australians. Three out of every four people diagnosed are women.

Group leader of the University's Multiple Sclerosis Research Laboratory Professor Bernard said the team was confident the research would provide scientists with a better understanding of how and why the disease develops.

"There is no doubt that identification of a set of proteins that are specifically linked to different stages and pathological processes in MS will provide insight into the disease," Professor Barnard said.

"It will also help evaluate the prognosis of patients with MS, guide their treatment and provide novel therapeutic approaches."

The new research project will receive funding of $1 million over four years, starting this year, under the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme and from MS Research Australia (MSRA), the research arm of MS Australia.

MSRA executive director Jeremy Wright said it was a natural step for MSRA to help researchers make important new discoveries that would translate into real outcomes for people with MS.

“Together with the ARC, we are investing $1 million into this promising new area for MS research," Mr Wright said.

The research team includes researchers from Monash, the University of Adelaide, the University of Queensland and the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Western Australia.